


Protect Me or Kill Me

by 100SleeplessNights



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Assassin - Freeform, Daggers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Ministry of Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4972444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100SleeplessNights/pseuds/100SleeplessNights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry gives Draco a dagger and tells him to protect him or kill him with it - Draco takes it quite literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Protect Me or Kill Me

**Author's Note:**

> I've had the idea of Harry giving a dagger to Draco for ages and I just had to write it. I hope you like it.

“Take it.” Harry said. Draco just stared blankly at the dagger he was offering him, not able to comprehend what was happening.

“I’m sick of fighting.” Harry explained. “Protect me or kill me with it, frankly, I don’t care. I love you but judging by how you’ve been behaving in the last fortnight you don’t love me back. So take it and leave.”

Draco finally took the dagger then, turned around and left, not turning back once because he was certain Harry would look absolutely crushed and he wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of that.

Harry was right – partly at least. They had fought a lot ever since they had first become friends and then, less than a year ago, lovers. And Draco knew that most of those fights had been unnecessary and could’ve been avoided, especially in the last fortnight, if they both hadn’t been so stubborn.

Draco was sick of fighting with Harry as well. All he had wanted today had been to apologize for their latest row that had definitely been his fault and then have some great make-up sex. But now, Harry had technically broken up with him and the only things he had left of him were that stupid dagger and the few clothes that Harry had left in his flat.

However, the thing that Harry had been wrong about was that Draco didn’t love him.

Draco did love him and it terrified him to no end. He had never loved anyone before like he loved Harry now. He might be bad at showing it but to him Harry was the most beautiful and inspiring person he had ever met, who always brought out both the best and the worst in him, what made for an explosive mixture but Draco wouldn’t want it any other way.

In fact, Draco had wanted to tell Harry that he loved him tonight. Right after admitting that he was a giant prat and telling him he could wear whatever he wanted to the Ministry Gala, no matter how inappropriate it may be to hold a speech in pyjama bottoms. Because that was what their last fight had been about - Harry wanting to break the dress code for some Ministry Gala he hadn’t wanted to attend in the first place but was expected to because he was the Boy Who Lived Twice and Draco lecturing him about propriety and class.

 

Once he was back at his flat- too busy with thinking and cursing himself he hadn’t even bothered to apparate there - Draco put Harry’s dagger right next to his own in a drawer. Then he shut the drawer and locked it again with the strongest locking charms he knew.

He slumped into his bedroom and fell onto his bed without bothering to change.

“I’m so sorry, Harry,” he whispered before he fell into an uneasy sleep.

 

In his dream Draco stood in front of Harry again, the dagger in Harry’s hand. But instead of offering it to Draco, Harry drove it right through his chest and into his heart, killing him mercilessly but with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Draco woke up with a start, screaming.

 _It was a dream. Just a dream, Draco_ , he tried to calm himself. _Your brain is just processing what happened today_.

Once his breathing had calmed down considerably he checked the time - 3 am.

Knowing he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep any way he went into the kitchen. There he made himself a mug of hot chocolate, just like his mother had done when he’d had a nightmare as a child. It still had the same soothing and calming effect on him like it had had all those years ago and he was more than grateful for the warmth it spread through his body.

 _I should make this the next time Harry had a nightmare_ , he thought but then remembered that he probably wouldn’t be there the next time Harry had a nightmare.

A silent tear escaped his eye. Then another. It didn’t take long until he started crying.

First he had lost his father, then a few months ago his mother and now he didn’t even have Harry any longer.

 

A sudden sharp pain in the back of his hand made him snap out of his self-pity. He lifted his hand and saw blood seeping out of a small cut, spelling out words on his skin.

 _He hurt you – I will kill him for you_.

“No.” he gasped.

He had no idea who had sent this ominous message, nor how they had sent it but he knew exactly who it was about. And he had to keep whoever had sent this message from killing Harry.

He was fully awake in less than a second, adrenaline flooding his system, and a minute later he stood in front of the apartment complex he lived in, a dagger in each hand, ready to apparate to wherever Harry was. His first guess was of course Harry’s flat and he could only hope he was still included in the wards and Harry hadn’t changed them the minute he had left.

Draco sighed relieved when he reappeared in Harry’s living room. Now he just had to hope Harry was here and find him before the mysterious assassin did. He entered Harry’s bedroom as silently as possible, he was sure the killer wouldn’t appreciate it should he save the person they wanted to kill for him. Inside Harry’s bedroom it was pitch black. He used a modified _Lumos_ to conjure a small light orb that made it possible for him to see but was invisible to other people.

Harry still slept peacefully in his bed when Draco checked and he couldn’t make out anyone else in the room. Once Draco got closer to Harry’s face he could spot the dried tears on his cheeks and red-rimmed eyes, proof that what had happened had deeply affected Harry as well.

 

A sudden _crack_ startled him out of his thoughts.

“Draco,” a voice said. It could have almost been pleasant hadn’t it been so cold and lifeless. “I see you’re already here to witness his demise.”

“No” Draco said, his voice way stronger than he had expected it to be.

“But he hurt you.”

“No,” Draco repeated. “He just made me realize that I can’t take him and our relationship for granted and have to fight _for_ him, not against him.”

“You deserve so much better, Draco!” the voice started to become whiny. “Someone like me who would worship you and always do what you say.”

“I don’t want a servant.” Draco said coldly. “I just want Harry. I love him.”

“No!” the voice cried and Draco felt the wind of someone moving around. A look over his shoulder showed him a person with long hair sitting atop the still sleeping form of Harry, ready to strike with their own dagger.

“Take that back!” the voice demanded. “Take it back or I’ll kill him!”

Draco grabbed his own daggers tighter and went to shove the person off Harry and far enough away that they couldn’t hurt him anymore.

Harry apparently thought that was the perfect moment to wake up.

“What…?!” he gasped just before Draco succeeded in pushing the attacker off the bed.

“I can’t talk right now; I have to save your life.” Draco said and pounced on the attacker.

“Leave my boyfriend alone,” he growled right next to their ear, Harry’s dagger not quite touching their neck.

“He hurt you!” they squeaked. “He deserves to die!”

“As I said,” Draco snarled, pushing the dagger to the attacker’s neck until he could see a small trickle of blood. “He didn’t hurt me; he just made me realize how much of an idiot I am. And even if he did hurt me, it would be my decision what to do with him, don’t you think? And I definitely don’t want him dead.”

“But…”

“No buts! Leave him alone and never come back if you’re fond of your life.”

“Ye- yes,” they squeaked and scrambled away from Draco as far as possible.

“Good. Now leave before I make you. Falling from the 10th floor would be highly uncomfortable.”

The attacker did as Draco had told them, leaving only his dagger behind in fright.

 

“Draco?” Harry enquired, still lying on the bed.

“Yes, Harry?” Draco’s voice was soft again, a tone he hadn’t used with Harry for far too long.

“What are you doing here?”

“Protecting you. As every boyfriend worthy of their title should.”

 

Ten minutes later they both sat in Harry’s kitchen, snuggled into blankets and sipping the Hot Chocolate Draco had made after his mother’s recipe.

“How did you…” Harry began.

“Know that you were in danger?” Draco finished and showed him the back of his hand. The blood had dried by now but still spelled out the message.

“How did they do that?” Harry asked, leaned over Draco’s hand to take a closer look.

“I have no idea. All I know is that my hand suddenly hurt like something had stung me and that message appeared on it, written in my own blood.”

Harry nodded frowning, probably comparing it to everything that he had learned about as an Auror. Finally, he sighed. “I have no idea how they could have achieved this. There are blood quills that will make what you write appear as a cut on your hand but I haven’t even heard about something like this, much less seen something alike, though I’m pretty sure it’s Dark Arts.”

Draco wondered briefly how Harry knew about Blood Quills but decided that it was a conversation for another day.

“That’s what I thought, too.” He said instead. “I thought of going to a former associate of my father, he’s an expert in the Dark Arts, maybe he knows something about it.”

Harry just nodded along. “Why were you up at that time of the night, anyway? It has to be what – 4am?”

Draco sighed. “I had a nightmare. I dreamed that instead of giving me the dagger you stabbed me with it. I woke up screaming.”

“But you know that I would never do that, right?”

Draco nodded. “Yeah. Of course I know. I know that it was just a nightmare. You would never do that. The point is I couldn’t fall back asleep so I made myself a mug of Hot Chocolate to calm down again. My mother always did that when I was a child and it worked miraculously.”

“And after you got the message you came here?”

“Yes.” Draco continued to tell him what had happened until he had woken up, leaving Harry gaping at him.

“You love me?”

Draco flinched involuntarily. He knew something bad was about to come, no matter whether he told the truth or not. So he chose the truth. Harry deserved to know.

“Yes, I love you. And I know I’m terrible at showing it.”

“Well, you saved my life. I think that’s a pretty good way of showing it.”

“So… You’re not mad?” Draco was surprised. He had expected a lot but definitely not that.

“Not at all.” Harry assured him.

“And we’re still together?”

Harry took Draco’s hand that lay on the table in his and squeezed it. “I’ve never broken up with you. I just gave you a dagger and told you to leave because I wanted you to think about what you even want.”

“So, you didn’t really intend for me to literally protect you with this?” Draco took up the dagger again and let the blade reflect the light.

“Not really, no. But I’m glad you did. They sounded quite insane and I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there.”

“Yeah. Let’s just not think of that.” Draco let out a great yawn.

“And let’s go to bed instead.” Harry added.

“Okay. I’ll just…”

“You’ll stay here, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll stay here.” Draco had planned on going back to his flat as he had been sure Harry would want to spend the night alone but he agreed, not just for Harry but because he wanted to be as close as possible to Harry as well after what had happened.

Draco followed Harry back into his bedroom where they lay down next to each other underneath both blankets.

“Can you say it again?” Harry asked.

“Say what again?”

“That you love me. I still can’t believe it.”

“I love you, Harry. I really do.” Draco gave Harry a chaste kiss, a promise to be much gentler with Harry from now on not just because he wouldn’t be able to cope with losing him but also because Harry deserved so much better from him than he had gotten in their relationship so far.

“Good night, Draco. I love you, too.”

“Good night, Harry.”

 

When Draco woke up the next morning Harry wasn’t in bed with him anymore. He checked the time and cursed. The Ministry Gala would start in an hour. He leapt out of bed and into the kitchen where Harry was eating breakfast already.

“You should go to the Gala in your pyjamas.” He hurried to say.

“Good morning to you, too, Draco.” Harry replied. “Why would you say so?”

Draco sighed and sat down across from Harry. “Because you want to. You never let me choose your wardrobe, so why now?”

“Because I wanted to take you as my date.” Harry mumbled and blushed.

“Then I’ll just wear pyjamas as well. It’s not like I want to go there any more than you want. But as long as you play by the rules, nothing will change.”

Harry’s mouth fell open and Draco was glad it was empty at the time. He really didn’t want to see half-chewed scrambled eggs and mushrooms this early in the morning.

“Yo-you’re serious?” Harry managed to ask once his jaw had returned to its default position.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Draco took Harry’s right hand that lay limply on the table in both of his and caught his gaze.

“Firstly, I love you and I want the world to know. And secondly, I promised myself that from now on I’ll fight beside you and not against you whenever possible. And here it’s really easy to do so. _You_ don’t want to go there, _I_ don’t want to go there for any other reason than to show everyone you’re mine, so we’ll show them that we’d rather be in bed cuddling and not attend one of their outrageously glamourized Galas that do nothing to help anyone. They should be crawling at your feet, begging you to attend their functions, not demand that you do so. _You_ saved _them_ , after all.”

“Gods, Draco. Do you ever take a breath?” Harry chuckled.

Draco smiled too. “Sometimes, yes. But generally breathing is rather overrated.”

“As is breakfast apparently, otherwise you would have at least filled your plate already.”

Draco looked down at his plate and indeed, it was still empty. “Well I wanted to tell you that first. It was important.” He said as an excuse but still blushed. He loved Harry’s breakfast, Harry knew that and normally eating breakfast was the first thing he did in the morning, even before he attempted to speak.

“You did that now.” Harry stated. “Now, tuck in.”

Draco shot a smile at Harry and then did as he was told. Harry’s cooking was way too tasty to not indulge in it every time he had the chance to.

 

When they entered the Ministry through the Floo half an hour later, all eyes were on them and not because they were famous or even because Harry still couldn’t excite properly. This time everyone’s eyes were fixed on their pyjamas that couldn’t have been more out of place.

“What is the meaning of this?” Kingsley exclaimed once he had reached them through the masses of people. “Why are you looking like you don’t want to be here?”

Harry snickered. “Oh, you got it right at first try. I’m impressed.”

Kingsley had the decency to at least look like he didn’t know how much Harry hated functions like this one, Draco thought.

“Did you never bother to ask Harry whether he actually wanted to attend?” Draco asked, knowing the answer already but still wanting to hear it. He just loved to make people uncomfortable.

“Well, I… what are you doing here anyway, Malfoy? I’m almost certain you would be the last person to get an invitation.”

Draco professionally hid his laugh behind a cough. People who tried to use diversion tactics with him were just so cute. “I’m Harry’s date, of course. That he needed because the Minister of Magic himself wanted him to attend some stupid Ministry Gala, - who holds a Gala at lunch time anyway? - And he is much too nice to deny him that. And now I want to know why exactly you never asked Harry whether he really wanted to attend this Gala or just went along with it so you would get off his back!”

“Well, I… he never said anything against it, so I just assumed…”

Harry let out a bitter laugh. “Then you better assume I don’t want to come from now on. Just a suggestion. Because I’m pretty fed up with everyone demanding my presence at pointless events. Or you’ll have to put up with me in pyjamas.”

The Minister looked stunned. Apparently not many people dared to question his decisions this openly. He normally only had to deal with critical letters and Howlers in the privacy of his office, Draco presumed.

“Yes, yes. Of course. But… you will still hold a speech, right?” The Ministers voice was quite desperate now.

Harry agreed with a sly smile. He had obviously planned something and Draco couldn’t wait to see what it was.

 

“Many of you might not know this, but I’m really terrible at writing speeches.” Harry said once he had stepped onto the stage. “So far, I always had someone write them for me so I wouldn’t sound like a complete dunderhead in public. But not today. Because today, I’m going to say what I want, not what the Ministry would like me to say.”

The whole hall seemed to take a collective breath.

“First of all, I’d like you to know that I hate these functions. They’re pointless and the only thing they help is the image of the Ministry. Considering I don’t want to hold a speech ever again, I might as well just say that.

“Second of all I want to tell you that I am gay and in a relationship with Draco Malfoy.

“And last but not least, goodbye because I’m leaving now to spend the rest of the day with my boyfriend, who it seems to me isn’t very welcome here. And _I_ thought these Galas were a sign of the war being over.”

Right then, as if they had practised it, Draco stepped onto the stage took Harry’s hand and pulled him over to the Floo. He had a hard time keeping himself from laughing out loud the whole way across the room – the gobsmacked looks of everyone attending the Gala were just too funny.

 

“Should I have told them that I _love_ Draco Malfoy?” Harry asked once they were back in his apartment, sitting on the sofa.

Draco smiled. “No. They don’t have to know everything, even though they’d prefer that. But you can tell _me_ as often as you want to.”

“I love you, Draco,” Harry said and pulled Draco into a kiss.

"I love you, too." Draco simply replied and snuggled closer to Harry, not wanting to move for the rest of the day.


End file.
